We caught up with ‘Kim Gun’ Kim (36, 179cm, forward), who is leaving her mark on the women’s basketball world.
After spending the last six years with Asan Woori Bank, Kim made a comeback to her hometown club, Bucheon Hana OneQ.
The 37-year-old South Korean signed a free agent contract with Hana One Q for a total of 250 million won over two years.스포츠토토
It was expected that Kim would stay with the club as he looks to retire. It’s not easy to make a change at a time when you’re winding down your career. However, Kim Jong-un’s attachment to his family was strong, and he chose to make a change to bring his experience to the current state of Hana One Q, which is in a downward spiral.
‘I didn’t think (Kim) would make the move,’ says Woori Bank director Lee Sat-woo. I should have been more careful,’ he said, laughing before adding, ‘I hope he doesn’t get sick.
Kim Jong-un had just passed the third week of training for the team’s muster and appeared to be busy getting in shape at the Taebaek training camp.
Hana OneQ caught up with him on the afternoon of the 24th at the training ground, where he was training for two weeks from the 15th to the 27th.
“It’s been three weeks since I joined the team. I feel like everyone is working hard. I also felt enthusiasm,” he said, adding, “The first week, I felt like a kindergarten teacher (laughs). I came here and shared a room with (Park) Jin-yong and (Jung) Yerim. We’re showing our true colours little by little. We got closer. The younger players don’t have a hard time with me because they know who I am, and they joke around with me. I haven’t shown them half of me yet (laughs). I haven’t played basketball with them yet, so I don’t know the exact atmosphere, but I know the atmosphere when I’m in the weight room. I think I know a little bit,” he said of the team’s atmosphere so far.
Selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 WKBL rookie draft, Kim has been playing in the WKBL for 19 seasons in a Shinsegae Coolcats jersey. Described as a complete player, Kim lived up to the hype in her rookie season, averaging 11.75 points and 4.85 rebounds in over 35 minutes per game.
After developing into an ace, Kim struggled with injuries from the 2015-16 season onwards, averaging just 5.13 points the following year before switching to Woori Bank.
His move to Woori certainly bounced him back. After enduring a gruelling training regime under coach Satellite Woo, Kim averaged 11.82 points and 4.53 rebounds to help Woori win the championship. At the time, Woori Bank dominated the regular season with an impressive 29-6 record and 82.9 per cent winning percentage, and swept Cheongju KB Stars 3-0 in the championship final to win the overall title.
After coming into the Woori Bank jersey with many concerns over injuries and poor form, Kim made a spectacular comeback with performances and records that completely dispelled the doubters. After five seasons of consistent double-digit scoring and a role in the defence, Kim decided to make a change.
“I’ve been in Woori Bank for five years. Now the times have changed. At first, I thought a lot about how to approach them because there was a big age difference. If I had an accident (?), they might have had the same daughter (laughs). There is a difference of 17 or 18 years between the youngest and the oldest. I don’t think we can be completely close because there is a big difference in age. It’s bound to be uncomfortable. If you lead by example in sports and life, the juniors will just follow, but I think we’ve become closer than I was worried about,” he said.
She continued, “Woori Bank does a lot of sports. I also have a lot of older sisters. Coach Woo also takes care of my sisters. I’ve been working out a lot less than before. I think it’s time for Hana Won-Q to work out a lot if her sisters are so experienced that they can take care of themselves. Even if I hit one, I can’t fix it by myself. I still talk to my trainer when I’m having a hard day and say, ‘Hold me, scold me,’ and I think that’s what I need. I work hard, but if I don’t do enough when I’m lifting weights, it seems like I’m not doing enough to ask for help.”
After her debut, there were no difficulties for Kim at Hana OneQ. He was winning. But the team was not performing well. It was hard to be considered an S-level player. He was told that he was not as good as Park Jeong-jeong (current coach of Busan BNK), Lee Im-sun (coach of Samsung Life in Yongin), and Byun Yeon-ha (coach of Busan BNK). After switching to the Woori Bank jersey, he was introduced to a new style of basketball, and his performance changed in every way, and he was able to become an S-level player.
“I’m really grateful to coach Wei. I’ve been here for six years, I’ve won championships, and the training was really harder than I’ve ever done before. Of course, my fighting spirit was strong, I had to restore my honour, and my motivation was strong. I was like an exercise machine at that point, and I wouldn’t do it again for a billion dollars. I had a strong will to win. Looking back on it, it was a tough time, but I think the coach pushed me much further than I thought I could go. I learnt a lot from that. When I was at Hana Bank, it was very difficult because we were always at the bottom of the table, but at Woori Bank, even though the training was hard, we were rewarded with victories. I feel like I’ve built up a lot of inner strength and the mindset that a winning team should have. Looking back now, I think it was the most grateful time of my life. Now that I’ve been at Woori Bank for six years, I want to give a lot of advice to the Hana OneQ players about what I experienced at Woori Bank and have a good influence on them. I’m worried that talking about Woori Bank too much will be disliked, but I think I have no choice but to tell them, ‘This is what makes a winning team different’. I’m trying to find the middle ground and talk about it a lot,” he said.
I was curious about the differences. What’s the biggest difference between Hana OneQ, which is still in the bottom half of the table, and Woori Bank, which hasn’t missed a beat.
“After the transfer, I was at a cafe the other day and I was talking about